---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: colleen cool <colleen.cool@gmail.com> Date: Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 6:15 PM Subject: Celebration of Freedom Summer 1964 at QC To: "gslisfac@lists.qc.cuny.edu" <gslisfac@lists.qc.cuny.edu>, glisann@lists.qc.cuny.edu, glisadjuncts@lists.qc.cuny.edu Please see the attached for information about the upcoming activities at QC to commemorate Freedom Summer. Following is a message from Mark Levy, circulated by Dean Scott. *From:* Mark Levy [mailto:mlevy697@earthlink.net] *Sent:* Sunday, January 05, 2014 9:51 AM *To:* Mark Levy *Subject:* "Freedom Summer 1964" -- Planning for Spring Anniversary Events at QC The 50th anniversary of *Mississippi Freedom Summer 1964* will be recognized on campus during *QC’s Spring 2014 Semester*. It was one moment in a still ongoing struggle, but it had special connections to Queens College. *Campus events are planned*. This is a preliminary announcement -- and request to start planning to participate. We hope *you* can: a) Integrate aspects of its story into your Spring Semester course work; b) Bring and/or assign students to attend related campus events; c) Sponsor additional activities of your own that are related to your department; d) Not just commemorate an event from fifty years ago, but show the leadership role that young people played in the Movement and its connections to the issues of today. A number of QC students back in 1964 joined the summer project that came to be called “Freedom Summer” and travelled south to support the voting rights campaign and struggles against discrimination by local Mississippi civil rights groups. Some came back, some sadly did not. The Rosenthal Library Clock Tower commemorates that effort – and the loss of three young activists who were part of it. There will be *two specific and special* *events** about Freedom Summer that *we hope you can actively support: *1.* *The **February 23**rd** and 24th* performances of a *play called “Freedom High**”* – written by playwright Adam Kraar, produced and directed by Prof. Susan Einhorn, acted using current QC students and alumni – is set at one of freedom summer orientation sessions as the volunteers are being prepared to go to Mississippi and the “disappearance” of Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner is dramatically announced. The volunteers and local activists have to deal with strong feelings and complex choices. The performances are co-sponsored by CERRU and Jewish Studies. A panel discussion will follow. *2.* *On **March 13th*, QC will be hosting a preview performance and talk by award-winning documentarian Stanley Nelson who just completed *a new PBS film titled “Freedom Summer”* – which will be aired on TV in June. (Nelson made the powerful documentary a few years ago about the Freedom Riders.) Two preliminary notes: A) Experiences last semester with several events showed that faculty integration of materials and/or assignment of attendance made a significant difference to the success of the event, so we are really counting on you; B) Black History Month’s calendar will be filled with a number of other civil-rights related events. We will share that info with you soon, as well as info about events slated for April. In December and January of 1964, SNCC and other civil rights groups made the decision to have a Summer Project in Mississippi that would include voting rights campaigns, freedom schools, community centers, and other related efforts. In a matter of a very few short months, they had to: a) recruit, select and train 1,000 volunteers (students, ministers, lawyers, doctors and nurses, musicians, actors, etc.); b) organize support in the North to turn the political and media spotlight on the state of Mississippi and give material and financial support to those working in the state; c) find local homes, churches, and other places where the volunteers could eat, sleep, and work; d) devise communication and security systems for this ambitious project. The activists who organized and led all of this, it is critical to remember and emphasize with our classes*, **were in their late-teens and early-20’s**!* Quite a lesson and example for our students, in itself. We will send you dates, times and locations of events soon. Please forward this email and/or distribute the attached letter version to those you think might be interested. -- Mark *PS* -- If you and/or your department want to initiate and sponsor another event, invite a speaker to a class or discuss recommendations for readings, videos, music, etc., or help co-sponsor one of the events mentioned above, contact Mark Levy at *mlevy697@earthlink.net*<https://mymail.qc.cuny.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=cixMdANQ1kezg_bxjSxgA-OOKr_K3tAIjg_7frXWxsXrY3jFK-vxpwL3CPpxcUYSV_EM9gjGsTQ.&URL=mailto%3amlevy697%40earthlink.net> *Mark Levy, * * Special Assistant to the President for the Civil Rights Initiative -- 2013-2014* * Queens College/CUNY, Flushing NY 11367 * * Hm: 212.666.9174 <212.666.9174> Cell: 646.438.4508 <646.438.4508> Office: 718.997.3139 <718.997.3139> email: **mlevy697@earthlink.net*<https://mymail.qc.cuny.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=cixMdANQ1kezg_bxjSxgA-OOKr_K3tAIjg_7frXWxsXrY3jFK-vxpwL3CPpxcUYSV_EM9gjGsTQ.&URL=mailto%3amlevy697%40earthlink.net> *Click "hyperlinks" below to see:* *Freedom Summer 1964 -- My Photos -- Meridian, MS*<https://mymail.qc.cuny.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=cixMdANQ1kezg_bxjSxgA-OOKr_K3tAIjg_7frXWxsXrY3jFK-vxpwL3CPpxcUYSV_EM9gjGsTQ.&URL=https%3a%2f%2fpicasaweb.google.com%2fQCCRMVETS%2fMeridianMissFreedomSummer1964PixByMarkLevyAndDonnaGarde%3fauthkey%3dGv1sRgCNTkzLeen7GcfQ> *Timeline Project: "50 Years Ago Today" -- QC-CRM Rosenthal Archives*<https://mymail.qc.cuny.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=cixMdANQ1kezg_bxjSxgA-OOKr_K3tAIjg_7frXWxsXrY3jFK-vxpwL3CPpxcUYSV_EM9gjGsTQ.&URL=http%3a%2f%2farchives.qc.cuny.edu%2fcivilrights%2ftimeline> *1963 March on Washington -- Queens College Bus -- ML Snapshots*<https://mymail.qc.cuny.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=cixMdANQ1kezg_bxjSxgA-OOKr_K3tAIjg_7frXWxsXrY3jFK-vxpwL3CPpxcUYSV_EM9gjGsTQ.&URL=https%3a%2f%2fpicasaweb.google.com%2fQCCRMVETS%2f1963MarchOnWashingtonQueensCollegeSAAndCOREBusPixButtonsImages> -- Colleen Cool, Ph.D. Professor and Chair Graduate School of Library & Information Studies Queens College, City University of New York Flushing, N.Y. 11367 Phone: 718 997-3790 email: ccool@qc.edu; colleen.cool@gmail.com -- Colleen Cool, Ph.D. Professor and Chair Graduate School of Library & Information Studies Queens College, City University of New York Flushing, N.Y. 11367 Phone: 718 997-3790 email: ccool@qc.edu; colleen.cool@gmail.com